A system, such as a Personal Computer (PC), may enter a low-power state during a period of relative inactivity. For example, a PC might automatically enter a sleep state when not being used in order to reduce power consumption. As a result, energy can be conserved, the PC may operate more quietly (e.g., because a fan might not need to cool a processor), and/or battery life may be extended.
In some cases, context information may be saved when the system enters the low-power state (e.g., by saving an operating system and memory image to a non-volatile storage device). The context information may then be retrieved when the system returns to a higher-power state. In this way, the system may return to the same state it was in before entering a low-power state (e.g., the same applications may be executing and the same files may be opened).